Blogging has brought a new dimension to my life where I can pen my thoughts, pent up feelings, fear, pain without any fear of remorse; where I am, at times, alone but Never Really alone in blogsphere. A place that I can almost call, "Home" where I can just blog away about anything that touches my heart strings. However do remember the recipes I upload are what I have learnt and the notes are my personal notes and the remarks are my own opinion.

Friday, August 24, 2012

I mentioned in one of my latest post that I was going for a class on Edible Painting by Kelvin Chua but did not follow up on it. It was All that I hoped for though not an artist at large, I went there to pick up some pointers so that I could use the tips on trying to breath some life into my fondant flowers & I was mighty glad that I went for the class as it was awesome to see him bringing some magic onto the flowers & swan he drew on the fondant dummy.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Being requested to make a wedding cake 2 months ago has unleased the dormant passion. I had no back ground in making fondant flowers. I learnt how to make fondant from scratch 2 years ago & the Chef taught us to make simple flowers like Daisies & some filly flowers but I was too "lazy" to do, thinking that there was no market for me to make these, until 1 1/2 months ago when I make some fondant daisies & place them on my Chocolate cake for a family birthday & then I started getting some orders to do same & ever since then there was no turning back. Every day I put aside some time to learn from the various tutorials on youtube. When I saw something I love, I searched for that particular mould & went amok & started investing in many moulds, tools, etc, & then trying to replicate them & these are my effort for the past two days.

Monday, August 20, 2012

Day 58 since my first attempt on Fondant Daisies - what started out as a break from my usual Chocolate cake whet my appetite to do more decorative flowers & what triggered me was when I had 3 request for fondant flowers on my cakes since I made the first attempt & then spiral the passion to continue making them as a good friend requested me to bake her wedding cake & gave me ample time to practise. This is my take for today!!!

I saw this raindrop effect & was very eager to do same. I piped little drops of pipping jelly to create this look.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

One more sleep before I go for the much awaited class on Edible Painting by the famous Kelvin Chua. I have always wanted to take my Passion to the next level so when I heard that he was in town & conducting 2 classes, I missed the first class due to a cake order, I knew that no matter what I need to go for this class to improve on my cake decorating. So with my shorthand pad on tow, writing them down in my rusty shorthand, all the tips, techniques & tricks But most of all to observe the Master at work & that I can quickly pick up the ropes & implement them on my Fondant; the current all consuming passion that I have. Thank you dear Lord for giving me The opportunity to learn from up close & personal & not just by the many tutorials on Youtube which continue to inspire me!!! Till my next post, xoxo, Ophelia.

Friday, August 10, 2012

I was honoured when a good baking friend, we met at a Fondant class 2 years ago, asked me to bake a Chocolate Cheese cake for her hubby's birthday. I decided to make it extra special & instead of just a Chocolate Cheese cake, I would place Raspberry puree in a pipping bag & pump little blotches of Raspberry in the Cheese filling as Raspberry & Chocolate goes well together. I do hope she will take note of the Biscuit base as there are Cornflakes in the base & the is crunchy!!!

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Life these days are not like in the old days when things were much simpler and ppl had more time to have more interaction. These days working life is quite tough where everyone wants to meet their target & the work force is filled with many extremely talented ppl; not to mention there are those who are also very talented but have not joined the work force yet. With this kind of environment parents have to be very understanding & supportive & when the opportunity to have a family bonding presents itself to cook & have a sit in dinner; no telly, just eat, talk & enjoy the company. Made these for dinner last nite. The chicken was awesome. Many, many thanks to Amy Beh for a lovely, lovely chicken dish.

My girl bought me a slice of the Red Velvet cake from her favourite shop for me to eat & see whether I could come up with my own interpretation of same. As I chewed on the cake, I took note of its taste & texture. I noted that it was not a sponge cake nor was it a heavy cake; hmm, it was a cross between a light sponge & a butter cake so that set my wheels on motion. I have baked a Red Velvet sponge cup cake twice last year with a cream cheese frosting that she couldn't get enough off, so as far as the frosting goes, I didn't have to worry about that. So I decided to create my own Red Velvet butter cake using fresh beetroot juice & some food safe red colouring as she did express she wanted it to be more red than the one I made for her birthday last year. If you were to ask me on my comments, I would say that the cake was not too bad; I just need to add a little bit more of the beet root juice the next time I bake this again.

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Most of the time the cakes that my customers ordered from me are for family celebration or gathering so when a new friend & a first time customer requested me to bake a cake for a company's anniversary, I was quite thrilled to break into that "arena!!!"

Given as I was requested to do same 2 1/2 days before the auspicious occasion, I was quite disappointed that I could not find any numerial mould that I could work on so my next best bet was a beautiful candle. Perhaps I could make a plaque of the company's name in Gum Paste & incorporate the Company's colours!!! I was keeping my fingers crossed that I would have that colour!! So when I enquired as to same, I was told thatit was Grey!!! Wow!!! I didn't have Grey but I had Black & the fondant that I made from scratch was White so I went to work on same, buoyed by the indescrible feeling that I would get there somehow!!! When I was in 1st gear, so to speak, I added the Black to the White Gum Paste without much fear; & squeeze & kneaded the gum paste till I reached the 2nd gear, when it was just a pinch of Black on a toothpick then when I was in cruise control, I knew that I had a winner as I achieved the shade that I loved!!!

I rolled the Gum Paste to the thickness that I wanted then I pushed in the alphabets that I needed; pulled it out gingerly & then layed it down on a rack to dry. I made 2 sets just for insurance in case one "crashed" out on me. It was only when I dusted the pearl lustre, that is normally used for wedding cakes, that I let out a squeal of delight!!! It simmered just like I intended it to be!!! So it to the Hubs, who nodded his head. See for yourself below.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Still in decorative mode, I made these Calla Lillies, teddy bear, butterfly & some red & orange flowers. Made the inner stem, of the Calla Lillies, 2 days ago; wasn't free to do the Calla Lilies due to a cake order, so made the lilies this evening.

This time I made Gum Paste. I prefer Gum Paste to Fondant as Gum Paste flowers/decor can be rolled very, very thinly & they look more realistic. Though they are far from perfect, I am quite happy with my maiden attempt. Will practise more to raise my own bar :)

I made 2 plaques of a friend's office; one I left it plain & this one here I dusted with a little yellow dust & tomorrow I will probably dust a different color to give a 2 tone effect. One of them will be placed on the Chocolate cake she ordered.

Wow, if only I started doing more decorative cakes a long time ago with fondant decor, butter cream, royal icing, etc!!! I didn't find the niche then as such I never delve deep into this area.

What started off as a diversion, from my usual Chocolate cake for my daughter's birthday 3 weeks ago has got me thinking, real hard, into continuing in this direction & taking up a professional course!!! I learnt a butter icing course from a well known cake decorator a very, very long time ago but I didn't take it seriously then as I was working & with young kids in tow there was hardly any time to practise much cake decorating aside from practising my baking, which is my real passion then & now & looking after the family!!!

And now that I have ample time, I wonder whether I should delve into the 4 courses which are now on promotion. I have always, always wanted to explore in this direction & now I wonder whether there would be a cooling off period for me. Am afraid that, as this is quite a big undertaking, aside from its hefty costs, whether I would follow it through. My daughter told me to go for it & she would pay for same but I am still hesitating and thinking whether I should OR just continue what I have been doing; teaching myself via You Tube various tutorial. If I were to comment I think there are more advantages in going for the courses, which is over a period of 5 months as you can see the instructor doing same, listening to their tips & taking notes during the classes. I feel I owe it to myself to follow my dream but still the thought persist that it is "quite late in the day to start same". I told my girl this feeling that I don't want to waste her money and that, after the courses, I may not be able to do a lot of wedding cake as a business as haha, no longer young!!! And I was touched to the core when she told me to just go for the courses for the main thing was that she just wanted me to have fun & learn at the same time & that it didn't matter if I don't do wedding cakes, I could always decorate for birthdays, engagement cakes, etc. Thank you my darling, both of you have done us proud!!!

About Me

Welcome to my blog. Thanks for visiting me. Hope you enjoyed reading and will appreciate any comments from you.I have, Always, been consumed by a burning desire to be an icon first, in baking and then cooking as I always believe that food is the glue that keeps the family together. It was good that I started learning baking more than 20 years ago to destress for now after retiring more than 6 years ago I am able to go full time in doing what I love best; baking and selling my cakes. Anybody can learn how to bake but genuine interest has to come from the heart and if you want your cakes or food to taste good, You have to bake/cook from the heart.